


Josh was Red, and Tyler was Gray

by troubledsouls



Category: Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: M/M, Synesthesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-04-20 11:43:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4786103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/troubledsouls/pseuds/troubledsouls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler hates his voice.</p><p>It's too gray, unlike his brother Zack's, which is a bright yellow; unlike his mom's, which is a beautiful green.</p><p>Unlike his best friend Josh's, which is an amazing, stunning, deep red.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I wanna hear your drums." Tyler sat in front of Josh's kit, staring up at him expectantly.

"Again?" Josh laughed. Tyler liked his laugh, the way it was a slightly different red from his speaking voice, and how it scrunched up his eyes.

"They're pretty!" Tyler insisted. He liked to hear Josh play better than talking, because they were so many beautiful shades of blue and the cymbals were blue-green and all together they were perfect.

"If you say so." Josh picked up his drumsticks and sat behind the kit, gently taping a cymbal before his hands began to whiz around, before he started to play hard.

Tyler watched in fascination, savoring the colors. He was taken back to when they had first met, when Tyler was in ninth grade and Josh was in tenth, when he had taken Tyler back to his house and played his drums and Tyler had loved the color.

Nobody else's drums were the color of Josh's.

Josh eventually stopped, breathing hard. He smiled at Tyler. "We should start a band!"

Tyler shook his head.

"But you write songs and play piano and ukulele! We'd make a perfect band."

"But my voice..." Tyler said quietly.

"Gray works with everything." Josh walked over and sat beside Tyler.

"No it doesn't."

"Please, Tyler?"

"Still no."

Josh sighed, and hugged Tyler gently. "Come on, I wanna hear new things for your piano."

Tyler smiled and allowed Josh to drag him over to the piano. He rested his fingers on the keys and began to play, finding chords that worked together and making up a melody, smiling to himself. The piano ranged from deep purple to almost white, and all of it was purple, purple, purple. He wished Josh was the one that could sing, his red and the piano's purple and the blue drums would be perfect.

He hit a wrong key and winced, snapping his hands back.

"That was great!" Josh said.

Tyler raised an eyebrow.

"Well, until the last bit." Josh smiled.

Tyler smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh had dragged Tyler out to a dinner with his friends Brendon, Spancer, and Dallon. Tyler hadn't really wanted to go, but Josh had insisted. 

Brendon had a beautiful orange voice, Tyler noted. It mixed well with Josh's. Spencer's was a light pink, and Dallon's was a deep green. 

But the general din of the restaurant was like neon pink and green and orange, they clashed horribly and Tyler was uncomfortable. 

Luckily nobody was talking to him, and he was quiet when he ordered. The waitress had a sky blue voice. Tyler loved it. 

"Josh's told me a lot about you." Brendon turned to Tyler and smiled. 

Tyler nodded, glancing up at Brendon. 

"He said you have synesthesia?"

Tyler nodded again. 

"What kind?"

"Colors."

"Cool."

"Your voice is orange." Tyler blurted. "Like a sunset, except darker."

Brendon smiled. "What color is everyone else's, if you don't mind telling us?"

"Spencer is light pink and Dallon is dark green and Josh is red, not a bright red but a sort of darker red. And I'm gray." Tyler decided that that was enough to talking. 

"Pink. Very manly." Dallon smiled at Spencer. 

"Shut it." Spencer growled. 

"Tyler plays piano and ukulele." Josh said with a smile. "We're gonna start a band like you guys."

Tyler violently shook his head. 

"You'll have to get Tyler on board for that." Spencer smiled.

"He writes amazing songs and he can sing, we need to start a band." Josh reached across the table to ruffle Tyler's hair. 

Tyler hissed at him like a cat. 

Brendon laughed. He didn't have a nice colored laugh, it made the orange harsher. 

"Settle down, Tyler kitty." Josh grinned. "But seriously, band."

"No." Tyler crossed his arms. 

The sky blue waitress arrived with their food, and Tyler took that as an opportunity to ignore the four while he ate. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler and Josh shared an apartment, with a bedroom that they shared, a kitchen, and a small living room. They kept their instruments at Tyler's moms house, where they wouldn't disturb anyone else by playing. 

Josh seemed to hate not always having his drums around, judging by the way he tapped his fingers on his leg after he and Tyler got home. They were watching some tv show, but Tyler was writing and not paying attention. 

"Tyler?" Josh asked.

"Mmm?"

"Have you ever heard Panic! at the Disco?"

"The band of your friends?"

"Yeah."

"Nope."

"You should look it up sometime. They did I Write Sins Not Tragedies."

"Oh."

"You like that song."

"Didn't know it was by them."

Josh smiled and turned off the tv. "Let's go to bed."

Tyler nodded, allowing Josh to lead him into their shared bedroom. He crawled into bed still fully dressed, quickly falling asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im really sorry for any inaccuracies  
> Tyler's synesthesia is based off my boyfriend's (he has a mild form of it and has described it to me a lot) so yes

Tyler woke up with one of Josh's arms across him. He smiled and shut his eyes, Josh's quiet breathing comforting.

Josh had kept his hair red ever since Tyler had told him his voice was red. They had gone to the store together and Tyler had found the color that almost perfectly matched, and they had gone home and dyed it.

Tyler smiled at the memory.

Josh shifted behind him with a soft groan. "Tyler?" He mumbled sleepily. 

"Hi." Tyler rolled over to face Josh. 

Josh smiled. "Morning."

Tyler smiled. 

"Today is a good day to start a band..." Josh shut his eyes. 

"No."

"If you say so, Ty."

"If you sing, we can."

Josh laughed. "I don't sing. You've heard me sing. I sound like... A dying walrus. Bad." He paused. "Like Brendon, only worse."

Tyler started laughing. 

Josh ruffled Tyler's hair, grinning so widely that his eyes were almost scrunched shut. "Seriously, you've heard me."

Tyler kissed Josh on the nose, then sat up. "I'm hungry."

"So am I. What do you want? Pancakes?"

"Taco Bell."

"You can't have Taco Bell for breakfast."

"Fine." Tyler crosses his arms. "Pancakes."

Josh yawned and sat up. "Alright. I can make them on my own, you can stay here."

Tyler shook his head. "I'll help."

Josh shrugged. "If you say so."

Tyler swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

"You don't listen to a lot of music." Josh said suddenly.

Tyler shrugged. "All the stuff on the radio is pink-green-white-yellow and it's not very nice."

Josh nodded, even though he didn't understand. "What about what's not on the radio?"

"All the stuff you show me is usually black-gray-red-blue. Too dark."

"You liked I Write Sins."

"It's orange-yellow-pink with a bit of black. Perfect."

Josh grinned. "Can I tell Brendon that?"

"Sure."

"He'd like that." Josh grabbed his phone, typing quickly.

Tyler smiled.

"You're adorable."

"No."

"Yes you are, shut up."

Tyler did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Josh eventually gave in to Taco Bell for breakfast, and was now sitting on the couch with Tyler, eating happily.

They were listening to Panic!, because Tyler insisted on listening to more. For the entirety of A Fever You Can't Sweat out he was nodding his head to the music happily, eyes closed, hardly eating.

He didn't like Pretty. Odd. as much.

"It's like that last one only more green." Tyler crossed his arms. "Also, the orange is more vibrant."

Josh's mouth twitched. "Is that bad?"

"They clash." Tyler took a big bite of his food.

Josh laughed. "If you say so."

"I do."

"I love you, Tyler."

Tyler paused at the words. they were a slightly different red.

"I love you too." Tyler said, a slight red tint to his gray voice.


	3. Chapter 3

"You're adorable." Josh ruffled Tyler's hair.

Tyler pushed Josh's hand off his head. 

"Brendon says if we record a couple demos he'll present them and we might get signed!"

"No. No band."

"C'mon, Tyler, give it a chance! Just one song!"

"Fine."

Josh beamed. "Which one do you want to do?"

"Car radio."

"Because it's mostly instrumental?"

Tyler nodded. 

"Grab your stuff, let's go record stuff!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ugh, this is bad." Tyler whined.

"Probably because it's just your voice." Josh said, clicking around on the program. "Once we've got drums and a piano added in, it'll sound great."

Tyler sighed. "Okay."

Josh added in a couple recordings, sucking his lower lip into his mouth in concentration. 

Tyler giggled. 

"Shush." Josh said, staring at the screen. "And there!"

Tyler frowned. "What if it's bad?"

Josh shrugged, then hit play.

Tyler stared at the speakers. 

No way. 

No way that was something they made. 

It was beautiful blue-red with hints of gold from the synthesizer Tyler had insisted on trying out. 

Tyler was sure it would be ruined by his voice. 

Tyler soon learned he was wrong.

"Awesome, right?" Josh glanced over.

Tyler just nodded. 

"Come on, I'm gonna send this to Brendon so he can show the label people."

Tyler nodded again. 

He didn't know his voice could do that. 

"Do what?" Josh asked, and Tyler realized he had spoken aloud. 

"Be beautiful." He whispered. "I didn't know it could be so beautiful."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so short I'm sorry


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I've decided this will update with short little chapters that are full of fluff there will be absolutely no angst here for once

"Tyler. Tyler. Tyler. Hey. Hey. Hey." Josh shook Tyler awake violently. 

Tyler groaned. 

"I just got a text from Brendon."

"Mm?"

"The label likes us! Tyler, we can, like, make more songs! And make a band! Bands are cool!"

"No more music."

"But you have so many lyrics lying around!"

"That song was lucky."

Josh let out a high-pitched whine. 

"No." Tyler rubbed his eyes.

"Pleeeeeeease."

"Annoying."

Josh pouted. "Come on. Please!"

Tyler let out a long sigh. "Fine."

Josh cheered, and Tyler slapped his hands over his ears.


End file.
